Sunday, April 15, 2007

"There are no strangers here, only friends we have yet to meet"

I love watching kids play.

I took the kids to the park today and in their usual fashion, the girls made friends instantly.

At one point, they ran past with one of their new friends and another mom asked, "Are any of them yours?" I explained that two were and she asked, "So whose the 3rd girl?" I told her, "I don't know. My girls just picked her up somewhere." We both marveled about how kids can do that.

It was only a few minutes later when that new friend had to leave. I worried about how sad the girls would be, but in a matter of minutes, they had found a slightly older boy and girl and were happily playing with them. Those kids were SO neat. They were friendly and polite. They played so nicely with my girls.

It fascinates me how children can form bonds so quickly. We read self-help books to figure out what we need to change so we can make true lasting friendships. We scour magazine articles on the topic. We watch Dr. Phil to figure out how to fix whatever disfunction we believe is holding us back. And then, we watch our children walk up to complete strangers and say, "Hi. I'm (insert name here). Wanna play?" And you know what? Their strategy works!

We view other people and wonder if our parenting philosophies/religious beliefs/political affiliations/favorite music will mesh. We worry what the other person is thinking. We wonder if we're doing enough/too much for those around us. There are times we wonder if it's worth the effort to even try to become friendly with someone. Our kids, however, don't see strangers. Everyone is a potential friend. Isn't that absolutely amazing?

Heeeeeeere's Reiza

About the title

In While They're At War, Kristin Henderson compares military life with going to Mars. When you return to the civilian world, you step off the spaceship and return to Earth for good, only to find you're out of place.******************She's right and we're adjusting. Welcome to my Earth where we still dream in Martian and search desperately for our place in the world.